That my dress is called The "Mondo was Robbed" dress dates its start exactly to October 28 of last year. If you're unfamiliar to that reference, Mondo was a finalist in last season's Project Runway and lost to the Chiccos-designing Gretchen. His inspiration for his final collection was Mexican circuses and the Day of the Dead and he made use of great black & white prints with bits of turquoise and pink for contrast.

The skirt – a black and white skirt that I bought from a theater in the East Bay that was selling off its costumes –was to be the foundation of my garment. Other than a couple hats, I hadn't found anything particularly worth buying. While I waited in line I saw this skirt in the hands of the woman in front of me and immediately fell in love with the print. When the cashier told her it was $15, she put it down and I snatched it up. I really wonder what production this skirt was from!

The skirt sat in my stash for months before I decided to give it new life as a Mondo-inspired dress. As soon as I knew I was going to make a dress, I cut the skirt into one large piece of fabric. For my original dress, I used Simplicity 4693 for the bodice. As an attempt to add the color to the dress, I sewed a band of turquoise to the bottom of the bodice before attaching the skirt. Unfortunately, I didn't take in account that adding the fabric would make the torso way too long. And, because I hadn't shortened the skirt (I wanted to preserve the existing hem), the hemline fell way farther than I would want to ever wear.

I never got as far as adding the zipper in the back, so it remained unfinished. In this picture, I simply pinned the back to see if I even wanted to continue. I didn't want to continue and it never made it to The Sew Weekly.

Fast forward to last week. I knew that this dress had to be my UFO for the challenge. The skirt had so much potential and I knew exactly what I had to do to make it work: shorten the skirt, change the bodice, introduce more color and, well, just finish it.

For a bodice, I decided to go with Simplicity 3398. Enamoured with the result of my "Eat Local" dress, I decided to add piping to the neckline. Due to the stiffness of the piping, I had to really anchor the facings to the bodice. But since this was a solid color bodice, any stitches would be visible. I said "who cares?" and simply machine-stitched the facing down.

Well, "who cares?" turned into "I care!" and I was very unhappy with the result. Not ready to abandon this dress once again, I decided to do a blanket stitch around the neckline. When that didn't look good, I looked online for other straight embroidery stitches and found the fabulous herringbone stitch! What began as a solution to fix something seemingly ruined, turned into my favorite detail of the dress!

Of course, knowing me, I had to make the project even more complicated! So I decided to make a bolero to go with the dress. I knew I wanted to incorporate houndstooth since that had been another Mondo staple during the season. For the bolero, I used Simplicity 4474 (the dress part of the pattern was my Christmas dress) and made it up in black with houndstooth lining.

The flower on the bolero was made from the fabric I cut from the skirt to make it shorter. The belt is simply a fabric belt I borrowed from a vintage store-bought dress.

I absolutely ADORE this dress. This may be my favorite dress I've ever made. It just shows that perseverance can really pay off!

Super cute!! I am getting in the mood to begin looking for a fabric and pattern to make myself an easter dress! This is a big step for me b/c my luck with dresses is not good. I think my torso is too short for the patterns.

WOW! I ADORE the embroidery around the neckline! I think embellishments make the biggest difference in the overall “polish” of a finished garment! You nailed it with this dress! I’m so inspired by your use of color and pattern in this project!

I love everything about this dress! I would never think to put these colors/fabrics together, but it looks so finished and fresh. The details really make it too, with the houndstooth lining, the black stitching, and the perfect hem length. Congratulations on another envy-inspiring creation!

Thanks, Jessie! To break yourself out of an unlucky streak, you might want to try making a a tent-style dress that you can belt. Then, for the most part you shouldn’t have to worry about your waistline.

Thanks, Michelle! I think embellishments are what truly separate true vintage clothing from vintage reproductions. It’s not like they much different in style — it’s just the little details that set them apart.

This is my favorite dress that you’ve made too! The herringbone stitch is absolutely stunning…I may have to steal that at some point in the future :-) The pictures are fabulous! Way to go–this week is going to be good methinks!

I adore the fabulous herringbone stitch! It’s so fabulous and I too have found new interest in handstitched details. They end up really making a garment special. The whole look is so wonderful! Really looks charming, bright and so appealing! Completely in love with the whole thing! Wonderful job!
xoxo,
Sunni

I totally agree — Mondo was robbed. I kept hoping that Gretchen would get booted off the island, but no such luck. I thought her bad attitude made Portland look bad. I love how your dress channels the bright colors and geometric influences that he used in his PR runway show.

I ADORE this dress – the skirt is beautiful, and the colour combination is striking. I keep saying this, so I have really got to do it – I need a bolero!!
I’m off to see who Mondo is (not having seen Project runway – wonder if it was on down here??).

What a success! It’s gorgeous, and you look so happy to be wearing it. And why wouldn’t you?
The herringbone stitch around the neckline really makes it, I think. Without it, the top would be a little too plain to look cohesive with the skirt. It just goes to show that you should never give up until you’ve tried every possibility for fixing/completing a UFO. And it looks so sophisticated with that bolero. Very creative use of skirt scraps! I think this is my favorite of all your dresses to date!

Oh, cool! I miss the Bay area. I’m a Cal grad, so I got to spend some time there. I just got my sewing machine serviced, and I can’t wait to take some sewing lessons and create some beautiful garments myself! :)

Mena this is so adorable! You have really inspired me. I wote about your blog and this whole community on my blogpost today. http://vividengrossments.blogspot.com/
Now – to decide what to make with the fabric I found. :-)

This dress is gorgeous (seriously want to reach through the screen and steal it! ;). But I think what really impresses me the most is that you persevered through what was seemingly a “dud” project. Just goes to show ya that just because it’s not perfect doesn’t mean you can’t evaluate and come up with a creative solution!
♥ Casey

About the Sew Weekly

The Sew Weekly began as Mena Trott's attempt to document the process of sewing all of her own clothes in 2010. In 2011, four other contributors (Debi Fry, Adey Lim, Veronica Darling & Sarah Gabbart) joined her and for 52 weeks, they sewed based on a particular weekly theme. In 2012, The Sew Weekly became a much larger group blog with over 130 contributors sewing along each week.